ScottyDo

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 01:21 PM) Has anyone actually run the numbers to see how often a #1 starter goes against a #1 starter or against a #5 starter? I mean, it's bound to happen happen more often for the #1 starter since the first couple of starts of the season, the teams tend to be on similar schedules. Plus, you've got the post-ASB reset, which should follow the same concept, and you've got the very rare rotational shuffle in the second half when you try to get a certain pitcher vs. a certain team (I think we did that to get Danksy-poo against the Twinkies at some point last year). That said, I bet the difference between the 1 spot and the others isn't all that great.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 01:01 PM) Here's the pre-ST Teahen fluff piece. Sounds good to me! I'm down with the competition. I do think Teahen's best value is as a super-sub, though, so I'm rooting for Morel. Plus, I'd just love to see awesome defense out of the left side of our infield, since we place such an emphasis on the grounder.

QUOTE (WhiteSUX @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 12:49 AM) Quick update for you guys. Morneau is on a speedy recovery to re-learning his ABC's and Gardy said this week that Justin is really enjoying the applesauce that are feeding him. Only soft foods at this point, still no control over body movements. But seriously, none of us really know what is going on with Justin. GM Smith said recently he was doing fine and is going to start baseball activities soon. I hope so because I doubt he steps back into the lineup and is all star shape from opening day. If Morneau is healthy all season, the Twins have the definite edge. He's the make-or-break as far as I'm concerned. I just hope he's enjoying the sponge baths. Similar things could be said for Peavy and the White Sox. And I KNOW he's enjoying the sponge baths.

QUOTE (WhiteSUX @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 12:40 AM) Dunn over Kubel/Thome......I guess you have high hopes for Adam. Heh. You can write down an OPS over .900 and 35 HRs. Who would be surprised to see more playing half the games in U.S. Cellular? Jim Thome is going to stop being good eventually, and my prediction is that it's this year. Of course, I think we predicted that last year, which is why the sox let him walk, but you can't discount his age. As for Kubel, he's fine. A lot hinges on Morneau because if he goes down, Thome will be overextended and I doubt even more he will be effective. Concussions are a b****. He's had a number of them. You have to be very, very worried about it.

QUOTE (WhiteSUX @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 12:38 AM) Another question I would like to ask all of you is your general feelings regarding Ozzie as manager. I know he has had some success there in the past, but as a fanbase are you in support of Ozzie, embarrassed by some of his antics, or just simply ready for a change? Personally I think his days are numbered if not successful this year. That's a point of contention amongst the fanbase. Many of us think the manager's position is overrated, myself included, so I don't get worked up about it. I'm personally embarrassed by some of the things that have happened in the past, but I think he's done better lately. He distanced himself from his son's BS and condemned it, as he should have. Ozzie is about average as a game manager (some people would probably like to have my head for that, but every manager has the same detractors saying the exact same things) but he's good at greasing the wheels, I think. As long as he and Kenny Williams can stay amiable, I think he's fine. But you're right, I'd like him to do some winning sometime soon, and if he continually embarrasses the club without the requisite W's, he may only last through the end of the option the Sox just picked up. Of course, you ask 10 Sox fans, you'll get 10 opinions. Same with most managers for most clubs.

If you want a player by player breakdown, I see it as follows: C: Mauer >>> Pierzynski 1B: Morneau > Konerko (It would be more >'s if Morneau's health weren't so precarious) 2B: Beckham > Casilla (that's my projection, but you could put it the other way if you're that low on Beckham...don't sell him short, though, he's still a top prospect and hit the ball pretty well the 2nd half) 3B: Valencia > Morel SS: Ramirez >> Nishioka (Seriously, how many Japanese players have come over and been anything more than serviceable their first year? Like, two.) LF: Young > Pierre CF: Rios >> Span RF: Cuddyer > Quentin (Though that could easily change) DH: Dunn >> Kubel/Thome tandem (Yes, I truly believe that) I can't say I know enough about what the Twins rotation is going to look like next year, but I think I can assume: Sox Rotation >> Twins Rotation (Especially because I'm sure you guys are aware that Pavano is unlikely to catch lightning in a bottle again. Let us not forget, Carlos Silva was dominant for a while last season. Raise your hand if you see that happening again.) Again, not familiar enough with the Twins bullpen except that I know they lost a few arms, and good luck with Nathan's first year back from Tommy John's, so: Sox Bullpen > Twins Bullpen (but who really can predict bullpens anyway?) EDIT: For those counting, that's Twins: 7 >'s, Sox: 10 >'s. So there you have it. It's science.

Talent v. talent, it's probably the Twins by a slim margin. Of course, if baseball were all about talent, the Twins wouldn't have won as much the last 10 years, but it's not. We're close, though, so you could probably go 60/40. Witty name, by the way.......

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:55 PM) Not a one besides that. He plays a good LF as long as he doesn't have to throw the ball more than 5 feet. Other than that, he's slightly better than Pablo Ozuna. See, why can't JP be a soxtalk rallying cry like crappy ol' Pablo Ozuna? Kind of like a soxtalk mascot! Just because he makes many millions of dollars more? Pshh.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:16 AM) It´s unfortunate he has not been able to develop his offensive as quickly as the hype had made it out to be. He can be solid but for what we paid we have not seen a return at all. Well 2 years left before the ARB kicks in so let´s hope this year he does something. We signed him at the age of, what, 19? I'm not sure what you were expecting at the age of 21 other than a burgeoning player fighting for a major league roster spot. He still has plenty of work to do but I don't think we signed him with the expectation of ANY immediate return. At least, those weren't my expectations. It just takes a lot of money to sign someone with his potential.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) OzzieGuillen.com is now officially open for business. Another blurb from Padilla: ESPNChiSox Doug Padilla Got the word that Beckham looks outstanding in the cage. Way ahead of where he was last year. Yes, but is he in the best shape of his career?

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 08:58 PM) I still think KW gives Eric Chavez a shot to be our starting third baseman. Why? We have Brent Morel.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 08:31 PM) So Brent "the morl" Morel Macpherson, I like it! Nice and succinct

Ozzie talks out of whichever side of his mouth happens to be open at the time, so I don't know which position to believe. What I do know, however, is that Ozzie values defense, and Teahen got very little playing time after coming back from his injury (at least I think he did, I freely admit I didn't check his PAs). There may be a "competition" but unless Morel looks every bit the minor leaguer in spring training, I bet he opens the season as the starter. Call it intuition (just don't call it female inuition). Bear in mind that I'm always wrong.

Something inside me says we'll still get Danks locked up. But that little voice inside me is almost always wrong, so he'll probably leave. I'm with J4L completely: if he's not locked up by 2012, let's get us a decent return.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 16, 2011 -> 08:07 PM) I don't think the Steelers are that far behind. I actually think we match up alright with the Steelers as far as our defense vs. their offense. It would be a low-scoring game, for sure, but one I think we could win. What we could never do is out-shoot the Pats, or really stop their offense.

Tex: Character issues are one thing; I think everyone here is in favor of supporting those who were ambassadors for the sport and pillars in the community (especially considering the jackassery prevalent amongst athletes); however, being aloof with the media is a personality trait, not a character trait. We're concerned that the media will punish Frank because they dislike his personality, which I think is well outside the boundaries of "fair game" when it comes to HOF elections. At the risk of mixing a few metaphors, if Favre had retired before heading to the Jets and revealing character issues, it would have been totally unacceptable to disallow him HOF entry because of his odious personality. And his personality is MUCH more irritating than Frank's. But, somehow, I think there are media members petty enough to see how disdainful Frank was of their job positions and it will affect their balloting.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 15, 2011 -> 03:14 PM) I think it's ridiculous that a guy like Frank Thomas can be shunned by the voters, if even for just one year, because he didn't like to talk to the media. I mean, that's just retarded. The media folk are a notoriously defensive group, and I'm not just talking about sports. I can totally see them clinging to their spite, even though they clearly shouldn't. Not everybody's personality is well-suited to spewing PR lines, and that has nothing to do with their baseball abilities or even their community relations. Stupid media...

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 15, 2011 -> 07:16 PM) I'm not saying the guy is Adrian Gonzalez. I'm saying he's Adrian Beltre. And I'm not saying I would have been comfortable offering what the Rangers offered, I said I think if we would have offered 5/$78 2 months ago maybe we would have been able to get it done. I think Beltre will probably slow down in year 4 and 5, but I think his production in years 1-3 will help offset that. To me, Adrian Beltre is the very definition of inconsistent. I want no part of a 5 year deal for him, so I'd rather do what we did.

No way. I don't see the upside to this deal whatsoever. EDIT: I don't know why we're trying to figure out ways to trade starters, they're the backbone of the team and we're not actually THAT deep there.

QUOTE (StatManDu @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) HAPPY 59TH BIRTHDAY YOU BIG TUB O' GOO. A great reliever, yes, but did you know that Terry Forster once hit a searing .526 (10-for-19) for the 1972 Sox? STAT MAN! You're back!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 09:53 PM) It's no longer a sample size with him anymore. Ramirez just flat sucks in April. It's still only 192 PA's, so it could easily be sample size.

I'd trade a first round pick for Mariano in his prime in a heartbeat.

What a stupid article. By Padilla's logic, nobody should ever bring up a third base prospect. They might all suck!!!!!

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Dec 30, 2010 -> 04:16 AM) Cooper -- in a totally dick move, IMO -- mentioned on the radio today that Peavy looks great and may be ready for Spring Training. Yeah, he said Spring Training, he's probably wrong and is getting my hopes up just to have them dashed when he actually returns in June but the man did use the words "Spring Training". I don't think anyone knows when the hell he'll be back, anybody who takes a guess as to his probable return date (aside from Coop, perhaps since he's the one witnessing Peavy's throwing first hand) is talking out their ass because no pitcher has ever experienced this injury as far as I know. If you take ptatc's prognosis -- and I would, since he's certainly the best kinesiologist on this board -- Peavy's injury, while serious, shouldn't have too long of a recovery time. While nobody knows how effective he will be when he comes back, people do know how long it takes tendon re-attachments to heal, and apparently it isn't that long.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 29, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) I think that has already happened. I'm pretty sure he's still in the clubhouse, just not in any official capacity